CHARLESTON – The ACLU of West Virginia has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a Marshall University graduate student whose legal status was revoked one month before he is scheduled to graduate.
The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia filed the complaint April 18 on behalf of Shival Nilesh Vyas, who recently received an email saying his F-1 visa was being revoked.
“During a time when students are supposed to be focusing on final exams, celebrating their accomplishments and searching for work opportunities, S.V. received an email … which threw his world into disarray,” the ACLU said. “He later learned the action was being taken because he was ‘identified in a criminal records check.’”
In 2020, Vyas was charged with a misdemeanor traffic violation of operating under the influence in Indiana while studying at Purdue. He was sentenced to probation, which was terminated early as the result of good behavior and compliance.
“Having been identified in a criminal record check is not a lawful ground for termination pursuant to federal regulations,” ACLU-WV Legal Director Aubrey Sparks said. “Our client was not convicted of a crime of violence, nor was he convicted of a crime for which the potential sentence is more than one year, meaning that he categorically is not subject to termination of his F-1 status on those grounds.”
Sparks says the government has no authority to consider that misdemeanor in terminating his current visa, and even if the state did have that authority it would not be a lawful justification.
After the 2020 misdemeanor, Vyas left the United States and returned in 2023 to study at Marshall on a new student visa. He disclosed the previous charge when re-applying, satisfied all requirements and was permitted to re-enter the country under the new visa. He was in the process of applying for post-graduate work in the United States when he received the email ending his status.
Vyas, 28, says the experience has caused chaos for his education and career plans.
“I desperately want to complete my graduate degree and pursue work in the United States,” he said in an ACLU-WV press release. “It is clear this wasn't a decision based on my circumstance or experience.
“This was a predetermined outcome and they just said whatever needed to be said to justify it, even when it didn't apply to me.”
ACLU-WV Executive Director Eli Baumwell said international students and scholars are a vital part of “our nation’s universities, our economy, and our communities.”
“Unfortunately, it has become increasingly clear that the Trump administration is simply taking the law into its own hands in its crusade against noncitizens,” Baumwell said. “Never before has a president taken such sweeping actions to revoke student visas, and that’s why we need the courts to step in and protect their rights to due process under the Constitution.”
Sparks agreed.
“It is fundamentally unfair to deny someone like S.V. the ability to finish his degree,” Sparks said. “Like so many other promising international students, he has traveled far, studied hard, paid top-touch tuition into the United States economy, and immersed himself into a foreign culture, only to be denied the credentials he has worked so hard to achieve right at the finish line.”
The complaint lists U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi as defendants.
Vyas is scheduled to graduate May 10, and he already has submitted an application for Optional Practical Training to allow him to work in the United States on a temporary basis in employment related to his field of study.
“Vyas has not been permitted to attend in-person classes, a heavy burden as he attempts to finish his final semester of his graduate program,” the complaint states. “He also has not been able to apply for employment through OPT, which will leave him unemployed after graduation, at great personal and financial loss.”
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number 3:25-cv-00261